Braves Get A Blast Out Of Berryhill

October 18, 1992|By Jerome Holtzman, Chicago Tribune.

ATLANTA — Damon Berryhill, the former Cub who was traded to Atlanta for a song, put Jack Morris and the Toronto Blue Jays to sleep with a three-run lullaby here Saturday night that lifted the Braves to a 3-1 victory in Game 1 of the World Series.

Berryhill`s home run, well tagged and to right field, more than matched a solo home run by Joe Carter, also an ex-Cub. Carter had Toronto`s only extra- base hit, connecting in the fourth off Tom Glavine, who went the distance with a four-hitter. He walked no one.

It was the first World Series loss in six decisions for Morris, who was effective early but began struggling in the fourth inning, walking five batters in a 10-batter sequence.

Asked why he didn`t yank Morris and go to his bullpen in the fifth, when Morris was weakening, Toronto manager Cito Gaston said: ``I`ve seen Jack bounce back before.``

A baseball mercenary who follows the money, not the sun, Morris won 21 games for the Jays during the regular season and went into Saturday`s game with a string of 13 scoreless Series innings. He stretched that to 18 before Berryhill homered with two outs and two on in the sixth.

A switch-hitter with occasional power, Berryhill, 28, came up through the Cubs` system. He was traded to the Braves along with pitcher Mike Bielecki last Sept. 29. In the exchange, the Cubs received two pitching prospects, Yorkis Perez and Turk Wendell. Perez has yet to surface in the big leagues, and Wendell was up only briefly last spring.

Berryhill batted .228 with 10 home runs and 43 runs batted in during the regular season. He had been platooned with Greg Olson, but took over as the Braves` No. 1 catcher when Olson broke his ankle.

Atlanta manager Bobby Cox, who is always eager to praise opponents, insisted Morris was tough and ``hard to hit.`` Said Cox: ``Jack had us swinging at a lot of bad pitches. He has that tough forkball and a rising fastball. On Berryhill, he just got one of his forkballs up.``

The partisan capacity crowd of 51,763 was in the game throughout, cheering and chanting and doing their tomahawk chop, which is supposed to put the whammy on the opposition.

Berryhill struck out in the second but timed Morris in the fifth when he flied deep to center. At that point, he was the 16th Atlanta batter, but the first to lift the ball out of the infield.

The Braves` winning rally began with a one-out walk to David Justice, Morris` fifth pass. Sid Bream singled to left, Justice stopping at second. Ron Gant grounded into a force play, Justice moving to third. Berryhill, next up, heard the roar of the crowd when he stepped in.

His home run came when he was behind in the count, 1-2. Dave Winfield, playing right field for the Blue Jays, retreated two steps and then stopped, aware the ball was clearing the fence. Joyous, Berryhill raised a clenched fist skyward as he rounded first base.

It was the opening game of the first international World Series. The Jays, admitted to the AL in 1977, are making their first Series appearance.

Morris set a Series record, becoming the first pitcher to work three opening games with different clubs. He won two games for the Detroit Tigers in 1984 and two more last year when he helped the Minnesota Twins beat the Braves.

A free agent, Morris, 37, jumped to Toronto last winter when the Jays offered him a two-year guaranteed contract at $5 million a year.

Jimmy Carter, the Georgia peanut farmer who ascended to the United States presidency, threw out the ceremonial first ball. Carter didn`t throw a strike, but it came in on the fly-which was more than the Braves did in the early going. Morris, in the first five innings, induced six ground balls, one of which went for a hit; two popups; and all seven of his strikeouts.

Perhaps Gaston should have yanked Morris in the fifth when, for the second consecutive inning, he gave up two walks after two outs. Instead, Gaston didn`t go to his bullpen until the seventh.

Todd Stottlemyre, first to relieve Morris, worked a scoreless seventh and then gave the ball to David Wells, who also held the Braves in check. By keeping Morris in so long, Gaston was unable to use Duane Ward and Tom Henke, his two best relievers.

Aside from Carter`s home run, the Jays only advanced one other runner as far as second. They mounted a mild threat in the eighth when Pat Borders opened with a single. Gaston allowed the weak-hitting Manuel Lee to bat for himself. Lee responded with a hard one-hop smash to shortstop Rafael Belliard, who had gone in for defense an inning earlier.

Belliard made a clean stop, then ran to second for the force and fired to first to complete a snappy double play. There were no Toronto baserunners thereafter.